Social media is a place of adventure, exploration, meeting new friends, discovering old ones, and staying connected with those you love. You get to find new business opportunities, market yourself to millions that we never could before the Internet, and find entertainment at our fingertips. We started out with marketing online that may have included newsletters, ads, and social media, the last one being free and extremely effective. But Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and others are wanting to monetize their platforms, which means you you will need to start to add a budget to your social media department at your church to be more effective.
Justin Dean has a few words on the conversation about paying for social media with advertisements and other social media budget items:
http://twitter.com/justinjdean/status/835184794606714885
Here are a few thoughts from the infographic below if you are seriously considering to spend some money on social media marketing. Yes, it’s setup for businesses, but there is much for you to learn here:
- Social media ROI is important if you are going to justify your budget. But many do not know how to even get the right data while others completely disagree what is a good ROI. My suggestion for churches: consider if it is more important you get the Gospel out on the internet or people in the pews. It changes how you rate success.
- No surprise, Facebook is the most frequently used platform and if you investigate it thoroughly, has the best advertising tools you will need. Others to consider include YouTube and internal networks (of which the church has unique platforms if you are interested)
- I have been saying this for the past three years, Pinterest is this untapped social media platform that people are not using. Imagine the VBS how-to crafts, spiritual imagry, and Scripture images that could be shared regularly to drive traffic. And a single ad may increase it significantly more.
What does it mean for your social media team with regards to a specific marketing budget?
[Image via Sales Force]
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